AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) by 12.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,487,363 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 273,078 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AbbVie were worth $491,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. GGM Financials LLC raised its stake in AbbVie by 0.7% during the third quarter. GGM Financials LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,575,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AbbVie by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. First Citizens Financial Corp lifted its holdings in AbbVie by 0.9% in the third quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 5,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its position in AbbVie by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 13,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.23% of the company’s stock.

AbbVie Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of AbbVie stock opened at $201.20 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51. AbbVie Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.85 and a 52-week high of $207.32. The company has a market capitalization of $355.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $194.41 and a 200 day moving average of $180.25.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $14.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.28 billion. AbbVie had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 226.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AbbVie Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from AbbVie’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. AbbVie’s payout ratio is presently 215.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABBV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AbbVie from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of AbbVie from $218.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AbbVie from $196.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of AbbVie from $195.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AbbVie from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.72.

About AbbVie

AbbVie Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.